Posts Tagged ‘sea level rise’

One of the country’s favorite Spring Break destinations is facing an uncertain future. The longest maintained tide stations in the state indicate that seas at Florida shores have risen 8 to 9.5 inches per 100 years. High tides alone are frequently flooding low-lying areas. Four hundred football field’s worth of sand disappears each year from the beaches we love. Read More

Hot on the heels of news that recent extreme rainfall has caused walls to collapse at ancient Pompeii in Italy, comes a new study showing that hundreds of other iconic places listed by UNESCO as World Heritage Sites are threatened by sea level rise. Philadelphia’s Independence Hall, Mont Saint Michel in France, Leptis Magna in Libya and the Tower of London are all identified as vulnerable to rising sea levels. Read More

According to a new report from the Labor Network for Sustainability, Maryland’s working people are already suffering the consequences of climate change and many jobs may be under threat in the future. Read More

In an extraordinary turnabout, House members seem set to abandon bedrock principles of fiscal conservatism by voting on a bill to undermine the Biggert-Waters flood insurance reforms. Those reforms would have put the highly-indebted National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) in a more solvent position, benefiting taxpayers who have been footing the growing bill for costs of flooding. They would have also helped shine a light on the growing risks and costs of development along parts of our coasts threatened by sea level rise, storm surge, and flooding. Read More

As I mentioned in a previous blogpost, the Senate is gearing up to vote on delaying the reforms to the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) mandated by the Biggert-Waters Act. With rising sea levels increasing the risk of coastal flooding and the NFIP’s debt mounting (over $24 billion currently), it’s time for senators to find a sensible middle ground that protects both local communities and taxpayers. Read More

The Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Reform Act, which passed with broad bipartisan support in July 2012, requires the taxpayer-backed National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) to set premiums that reflect true flood risk and will help put the program on a more financially secure footing. Now many of the same senators who voted to support these necessary and overdue reforms are set to gut them. Biggert-Waters is flawed but it can and should be fixed, not overturned or substantially delayed. Read More

Over the past few days I’ve had to consider the definition of several words that haven’t been part of my daily vocabulary, the biggest one being the word ‘banned.’ I’m the director of the documentary Shored Up, which has until now been a relatively uncontroversial film addressing coastal development, sea level rise, and the threat that climate change is bringing to our coastlines. Read More

Sea level rise experts from across Florida and around the world convened in Fort Lauderdale recently to discuss the latest science and strategies for sea level rise adaptation. And as if to urge them on, the king tides rose as conference goers watched, topping canal walls and spilling onto roads. That summit, the second annual held by Florida Atlantic University, dovetails with this week’s sold-out gathering on advancing coastal adaptation action, which brings together state leaders from four southeastern counties. Those who understand what’s at stake here are in a dead sprint for solutions.

Florida: the sunshine state, land of citrus, destination Disney World — and ground zero for sea level rise in America. Read More

To state the obvious, rare events don’t occur frequently. While this is good in the case of large-scale natural hazards, it may increase our vulnerability in the long run. But why do uncommon events increase our likelihood of taking unnecessary risks, and how do we overcome our own cognitive predispositions? Read More